Last updated 08 May 2005Mary Ann was born in Lymington on 4 November 1797, the daughter of James and Ann Hapgood. She never married and died in Lymington on 5 November 1878 at ?. She was buried in the churchyard of St Thomas, Lymington alongside her younger siblings, Samuel and Caroline.
Mary Ann operated the Hapgood family fruiterer business for many years following the death of her mother at the age of 78 in 1851. Given that Mary Ann was then 54 years old, it is interesting to speculate that she had, in practice, run the fruiterer business long before her mother's death.
It is also interesting to speculate if Mary Ann was in some ways the dominating personality among the adult children of James and Ann. She was the second oldest of the children to survive to adulthood. Among these she was outranked in age only by her brother James (1793-1860). But the historical material available contains no evidence of any achievement by this younger James. After the elder James' death, the family business appears to have been carried on by Ann and then by Mary Ann. The younger James' does not figure at all - despite being the natural choice in that era. The next youngest adult was John (b. 1803) and he left Lymington to pursue his own life.
Last updated 08 May 2005